Environmental Protection Agency November 17, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency invites nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for appointments to fill specific vacancies on the Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC). Nominations are sought in the following two areas: Experience relating to children's environmental health on Tribal lands and experience with children's environmental health in public health nursing. In addition to this notice other avenues may be used to identify potential candidates. Deadline for receiving nominations is Friday, December 2, 2005. Please submit a resume or curriculum vitae with each nomination via mail or e-mail to the addresses below. Appointments will be made by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

On or about November 14, 2005, the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) of EPA will make available for public review and comment a draft document, Review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone: Policy Assessment of Scientific and Technical Information (Draft Staff Paper). The purpose of the Staff Paper is to evaluate the policy implications of the key scientific and technical information contained in a related EPA document, Air Quality Criteria for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants, required under sections 108 and 109 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for use in the periodic review of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone. The OAQPS also will make available for public review and comment related draft technical support documents, Ozone Population Exposure Analysis for Selected Urban Areas (draft Exposure Analysis) and Ozone Health Risk Assessment for Selected Urban Areas (draft Risk Assessment).

In this action, we are amending the existing United States regulations governing the exhaust emissions from new commercial aircraft gas turbine engines. Under the authority of section 231 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 42 U.S.C. 7571, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is establishing new emission standards for oxides of nitrogen (NOX) for newly certified commercial aircraft gas turbine engines with rated thrust greater than 26.7 kilonewtons (kN). This action adopts standards equivalent to the NOX standards of the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and thereby brings the United States emission standards into alignment with the internationally adopted standards (ICAO standards for newly certified engines were effective beginning in 2004). In addition, today's action amends the test procedures for gaseous exhaust emissions to correspond to recent amendments to the ICAO test procedures for these emissions. On December 19, 2005, the new NOX standards will apply to newly certified gas turbine enginesthose engines designed and certified after the effective date of the regulations (for purposes of this action, the date of manufacture of the first individual production model means the date of type certification). Newly manufactured engines of already certified models (i.e., those individual engines that are part of an already certified engine model, but are built after the effective date of the regulations for such engines and have never been in service) will not have to meet these standards. Today's amendments to the emission test procedures are those recommended by ICAO and are widely used by the aircraft engine industry. Thus, today's action will help establish consistency between U.S. and international standards, requirements, and test procedures. Since aircraft and aircraft engines are international commodities, there is commercial benefit to consistency between U.S. and international emission standards and control program requirements. In addition, today's action ensures that domestic commercial aircraft meet the current international standards, and thus, the public can be assured they are receiving the air quality benefits of the international standards.